The Challenge

The brand had a bold ambition: to democratize teeth whitening in India by offering an effective, affordable, and easy-to-use at-home solution. But the path was complex—multiple formulas, formats, and regimens were in play, and the real challenge was to understand how Indian users would engage with them beyond lab settings.

How do you identify a minimum viable product in a deeply sensory and behavior-linked category—one where daily usage, emotional response, and performance perception matter as much as efficacy?

Our Approach

We designed a longitudinal, multimodal testing modelthat blended:

• Daily journaling, smile selfies, and milestone tracking over 14 days

• Behavioral mapping of high and low moments in the regimen

• Deep-dive qualitative probes into satisfaction, effort, and emotional payoff

• Quantitative scoring of multiple test formulations to established control – and success parameters

What made the approach distinctive:

• Combined behavioral discipline with emotional granularity—capturing not just what worked, but why it felt worth it

• Allowed real-time capture of sensory reactions, trust moments, and drop-off triggers

• Created a test bed for iterative learning with 700+ participants across multiple cells

The Impact

The research helped transform a complex innovation puzzle into a consumer-shaped solution. It clarified not just the winning formula, but the user truths that would enable adherence, satisfaction, and brand trust.

This iterative, insight-led approach is now informing the next phases of product simplification, sensory enhancement, and market rollout—serving as a blueprint for how empathetic research can de-risk innovation and unlock scale.